(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an LP insulator assembly attached to an electric post or another post for connecting electric wires, and a method for assembling the same.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
An LP insulator (line post insulator) is an outdoor insulator for frequent use especially in U.S. The insulator for supporting an electric wire is, as shown in FIG. 2, mainly constituted of a shaft body 23 of an organic insulating material provided with a clamp or engaging member 24 on a tip end and a base or support fitting 25 on the other end. The shaft bodies 23 are supported by fixing the bases 25 onto a multiplicity of posts 21 such as electric posts, pyla, and the like. By engaging electric wires with the clamps 24 on the tip ends of the shaft bodies 23, the electric wires are arranged/connected for use.
For the purpose described above, a multiplicity of LP insulators are used at the same time. Therefore, in the conventional art shown in FIG. 3, two spacers or support members 29 are pre-arranged perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the LP insulators to be contained in a box housing 28 of plywood. A plurality of LP insulators are alternately arranged in such a manner that the bases 25 and the clamps 24 are alternately arranged on the top face of the support members 29. As the case may be, the arrangement is repeated in a plurality of stages, stacked, and assembled in the box housing 28 for transport.
However, in the assembling method using the box housing, there are problems that the installation of the spacers into the box housing is laborious, it is difficult to assemble heavy insulators in a deep box housing, box housings adapted for various product lengths or sizes are necessary, the total weight including the box housing is heavy, a large storage space is necessary for unused box housings and that unnecessary box housings after transport generate an enormous amount of waste materials even if disassembled. These problems remarkably add to the transport cost of LP insulators.
Moreover, since the occupancy volume of the support fitting of the LP insulator is very large relative to that of the shaft body, the box housing cannot be densely filled with the insulators. Additionally, since the weight of the support fitting is also heavy, the box housing needs to be rigid sufficiently to bear the load concentrated onto the outer periphery of the housing. Therefore, the conventional assembling method is not necessarily efficient.
Furthermore, in order to mount the insulator onto the post or the like, the engagement member on the tip end is lifted with a crane or the like. In this case, the insulator needs to be once raised to direct the shaft body upward before lifted. Therefore, it cannot be said that the assembling method is developed by sufficiently considering the structural and operational characteristics of the LP insulator.